2005/03/31

Terri's Gone...

God rest her soul...

2005/03/24

Nice Try, Weasel

Via Michelle Malkin, I find that one of my least favorite people has just lost his case. Pardon me for just one second.

BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Okay, I think I’m done with the unseemly gloating laughter now. I hope they deport your ass back, weasel boy. A nice room in Leavenworth is waiting for you if they do.

Life Imitates South Park

I’m reading this news story and the only thing that keeps running through my head is Eric Cartman singing “I made you eat your parents!”

Nothing like a little extra with your lunch. This beats the McDonald's chicken head incident by a long shot. Lawsuit to follow shortly, I have no doubt.

2005/03/23

Corporations and History

I was reading a post over at Dean Esmay’s blog where he asserts that corporations are a creation of the state and have no natural existence outside of what the state grants them. Upon some reflection, I have to conclude that he’s wrong. Before I get to my real points, though, I want to point out Mr. Esmay is committing the unpardonable sin. To wit:
This is a simple, indisputable fact of history and law.
I call bullshit right here. Nothing concerning law is ever indisputable. That’s why there are so many lawyers. Similarly, no historical fact can be considered indisputable. There’s always room for debate, folks.

There are many aspects of the question that I can go into here, but the most important one is definitional. What, exactly, is a corporation? If you define a corporation in the same fashion as the law does, yes, a corporation exists only under the aegis of the state. No state, no law, no corporation. Easy enough. I think the mistake that Dean makes is in assuming that the legal status of a corporation is what defines the body in question as a corporation.

A corporation in the simplest form is nothing more than a collective that has an independent existence apart from the individual members of the collective. This model existed long before the rise of the modern nation-state, and is in fact the basic multi-family human organization. (Think “tribe” or ”clan”.) If the collective body is organized in some fashion acceptable to the state, it becomes a legal “corporation” with all the rights the state has granted it. Given the amazingly long history involved, the assertion that common law has nothing to say on the subject is probably incorrect. Given that the original corporate body is the Church, I find it difficult to believe that common law had no provision for such organizations. Given the heavy interdependence of church and state, you might quibble whether such law is independent of law relating to the state itself.

I also question the history of the corporation expressed by some of the commenters. If I recall correctly, which is always doubtful, corporations developed out of the need to pool funds and share risks involved in long distance over-ocean trade. A group of merchants would pool funds using a share-based mechanism to equip a trading venture. This spread the risk out over the group instead on concentrating it in one individual. The concept of limited liability also developed out of this organizational model. Once you have put up your funds for the equipping of the venture and the boat sailed, your liability was fixed. No further liability accrued to you. Admittedly, this is mainly due to practical reasons rather than anything enshrined in law, for what should be obvious reasons. The chartered corporations like the Dutch East India Company were unusual not for the organization of the company but rather for the monopolies granted them by the state.

If you feel, as I do, that this is the history of how corporations developed in the period of roughly 1300-1700 AD, you have to question the view of privileges being granted by the state. I consider it much more likely that early corporate law simply formalized existing conditions. People were organizing in collectives and contracting on that basis before the state caught up with the concept.

And you know what? It’s just as likely as Mr. Esmay’s storyline. Given that he’s asserting a bunch of things as fact and history and providing no links or documentation to buttress his arguments, why should I?

2005/03/22

Michael Schiavo’s Wedding Vows

I’ve been following some of the debate over the Terry Schiavo case. There’s an awful lot about this case that disturbs the hell out of me on all sides. The gentlemen over at Q & O have posted about it here, here, and here. Some of the issues they raise are the same ones I have. However, today’s latest post on the mess expressed one thought I’d like to take issue with.
It bothers me that elected representatives condemn Mr. Schiavo for having a girlfriend and children by her, as if he was supposed to put his life on hold while his wife remains in a PVS.
There’s a lot about this case that is troublesome, but this ain’t it. Speaking as a married man, I can definitely condemn Mr. Schiavo for this. Yes, he should have put his love life on hold. I don’t know what his marriage vows were, but mine don’t give me a pass on poor behavior if J becomes terribly inconvenient. I must have missed Elmer Fudd throwing that one in there. He wants to have a life? He has two options. Divorce her and hand the care back to her parents or wait until she dies. In the meantime, he’s still married. Shacking up with someone and having two kids while your wife is in the hospital doesn’t mean you wanted to have a life. It means you’re a scumbag who bailed when your marriage got inconvenient, but didn’t have the courage to admit it and file for a divorce. I am baffled as to why people keep insisting that an inability to keep your dick in your pants is something I should accept.

2005/03/21

More Illiteracy From Congress

My senior Senator, an addled old power-mad hag if ever there was one, has demonstrated another reason why she shouldn’t be in Congress: she’s illiterate.

I don’t see why I have to keep repeating this for the clueless, but what part of the 1st Amendment is difficult to understand? I realize I don’t have a law degree and am therefore not versed in the fine art of arguing that black is indeed white, but the text is fairly short and unambiguous.

My particular beef with Sen. Hutchison is the news that she, in conjunction with some donk from West Virginia, has introduced a bill to protect children from the scourge of indecent broadcasting. Of course, she seems to think cable television is also a problem and proposes to regulate that as well. At least, I think that’s what “multichannel video programming distributors” means. Does that mean cable companies? Radley Balko thinks it means satellite TV, too. Will regulation of XM and Sirius be far behind if this passes? Bet not. I guess Howard Stern will never be free of indecency fines.

At what point did it become inconceivable for parents to turn off the television? Why is the US Senate in the business of deciding for me what I can watch on television? Why do the citizens of Texas keep reelecting this bitch? Oops. I can answer that last one: because the people that run against her are complete non-entities. J thinks she’s gearing up to run for Governor, which should be an old-fashioned slugfest in the primary if it happens. Once again, I have to write a letter to my congresscritter asking what the hell is going on. I do so love the fact that I can’t even trust my elected officials to have some minimal awareness of the document they are supposedly upholding.

Maps! We Got Maps!

Sex offender in your neighborhood? Don't know? Why not map them and find out?

I am conflicted over web applications like this. I have a hard time balancing my concerns for civil liberty with the need for public safety. I tend to believe once you serve your time, you should be done. You have in one sense paid your debt to society. However, this has to be balanced with the indisputable and ugly fact that sex offenders (especially pedophiles) are generally recidivists waiting for an opportunity. I'm not bright enough to know what the answer is. I lean on the side of full disclosure, but I might be wrong. In any event, if you live in Texas, you might scare yourself a little by typing in your address.

SUV vs. Pickup

I realize I’m late in linking to this, but I was watching that bizarre commercial put out by the people at esuvee.com. I don’t follow accident statistics much, but from an engineering perspective, SUVs and Pickups are damn near identical. Are the accident rates for the two vehicle types that different? I confess to ignorance.

Anyhow, I’m always confused by the ire that people direct at SUVs. I drive a full-size Chevy extended cab pickup. Functionally, the only difference between my truck and a Suburban is that the Suburban has more sheet metal and seats. Big inefficient gas guzzling engine? Yup. Tall enough to block other drivers’ views? Yup. Heavy enough, especially when fully loaded, to crush some compact car like a bug? Yup. Grossly underutilized most of the time? Yup. All of the traits that annoy people about SUVs are shared by pickup trucks. In fact, where I usually drive, there are more pickups than SUVs. Why do people get so annoyed about SUVs and not trucks? I’m frankly baffled.

So you have people like Jane Galt, who thinks SUVs have significant negative externalities. Her approach seems to presume some sort of baseline automobile that all other should be compared to determine the possible externalities. She does note, however, the difficulty of distinguishing an SUV from a light truck for regulatory purposes. Maybe I’m simple, but if you can’t clearly explain the difference maybe there isn’t enough of one to matter.

Another issue that I think gets lost in this debate is the assumption that because a vehicle doesn’t spend some nebulous percentage of usage packed to the gills and fully loaded it’s being wasted. Which, while technically speaking true, is completely irrelevant. Haven’t you nimrods ever heard of surge capacity? I don’t need the capability a pickup truck provides every day. In fact, for my daily transportation needs my motorcycle is a better choice. However, I do need the truck’s capabilities often enough to justify owning one. When I need a pickup truck, almost nothing else will suffice. There are few, if any, other vehicles with the flexibility to handle my varied automotive needs. Similarly, I can make the not terribly farfetched assumption that people who drive SUVs may need the capacity of an SUV at some times on a frequent enough basis to justify the purchase. The rest of the time they may not need it, but they can’t afford two cars.

Of course, I tend to resist utilitarian arguments of this nature, simply because I don’t think anyone out there is at all qualified to tell me what I need at any given moment. The minute you let some government jackass in an office somewhere determine what you can have based on what he thinks you need, you’re perilously close to a socialist totalitarian hell.

2005/03/18

More Obit

So in amongst all the other things going on this week, Andre Norton died. I was amused at one news source mentioning that she “published over 30 books”. Uh, yeah. Like in the neighborhood of 170 novels, not counting short stories, collections, poetry or anything else.

In fact, her publisher graciously makes available some of her work online for free here. I have not read anything by her that I have not enjoyed. I haven’t read all of it, but I’ve read a considerable amount. A lot of people are prominently mentioning the Witch World series, but I’ve always been partial to the sci-fi stuff like Star Guard and The Zero Stone. In any event, it’s all good stuff. Read, enjoy, and recommend to your friends. I figure that's the best tribute you can give an author.

Get Back to Work

What in the hell is the House Committee on Government reform doing? Somebody please explain to me how the steroid use or non-use of millionaire athletes is any business of the United States Congress. Please, I’m begging for someone to explain this to me before my head explodes. Aren’t steroids already illegal? What more can Congress do? Are representatives going to waggle their fingers and say “Bad athlete! No endorsement for you!” in some sort of political burlesque? Surely there’s some part in the massive edifice of the federal government that has more pressing and immediate need of reform. Say, maybe BIA or T S A or possibly even the Border Patrol.

In a similar vein, how exactly is Terri Schiavo’s situation a subject for the federal government’s inquiry? (Ace has lots of coverage if you’re unaware.) While I agree her case is, in my view, a travesty of justice due to the blatant conflict of interest, I fail to see how any interference by the federal government is warranted, justified, or even legal. Funny, but an actual lawyer thinks it isn’t legal. Your elected officials are engaging in a power grab, again.

Given the variety of actual problems confronting the country, why are these dolts wasting time on things like this? Maybe it’s because all of the problems we currently face are difficult and doing something to fix them will piss off a significant or influential subset of the population, whereas grandstanding on minor issues is easy, looks good, and has no personal cost. Hmm. No, my elected officials wouldn’t be so shameless and transparent, would they?

Oh, wait. Yes, they would. For further examples, see John McCain’s entire career.

Rodeo Giggles

So, J and I went to the rodeo to see Maroon 5. There were, as always, a myriad of fashion mistakes to critique. Really, what’s the point in going out amongst the lumpy proles if you’re not going to mock them? Fashion rule number one for Houston, Texas: cover your flab, lardass. Nobody wants to see your fat rolls. Violations of this rule were plentiful, as they are in all public situations these days. I will skip further mockery of the fans and instead concentrate on the band.

I’ll preface this by saying they put on a decent show. Lots of energy, they seemed to be having fun on stage, and they connected well with the audience. They need to find a better sound guy, though, because the lead vocals were so buried in the mix for most of the show it wasn’t funny. If you didn’t know the words, you wouldn’t have been able to understand them.

Anyhow, lead singer child thinks his band rocks a lot more than it really does. Maroon 5 makes good pop songs. They will not be asked on a Monsters of Rock tour ever, okay? So, you trying to do the whole guitar player rock star thing just doesn’t work. It’s not really your gig. Similarly, I appreciate the desperate desire of the bass player to retain some small shard of street cred, even if it’s only in his own eyes. However, wearing a Slayer t-shirt on stage just ain’t gonna cut it. You’re playing bass for a band where the vast majority of fans are squealing teenage girls. It’s a little difficult to maintain the pose as a hardcore rivethead, no matter how true it may be. You should probably stop trying.

Having said all that, I found the finale to be a good cover of a great song. I’m thinking Highway to Hell probably doesn’t resonate with the demographic, though.

2005/03/15

Labor Daze

So the concept of “weekend” originally involved something along the lines of time to have off from work and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I dimly recall that at some point in my life that’s what I did, but only dimly. Lately, it’s been work on the house on our days off.

That’s why no posting yesterday. Yesterday was visits from electricians, general contractors, and the guys to clean the carpet and couches. Plus, the continuing saga of refinishing the kitchen cabinets and a trip to the storage unit to offload more stuff so YPS Manor doesn’t look like it’s inhabited by drunk bibliophiles. (Which it is, but that might creep people out when they’re shopping for a house.) In other words, a whole lot of work goes on over the weekend. When I come in to work on Mondays, I can sit down in a reasonably comfy chair for long periods of time. I don’t get to do that on weekends.

Anyhow, today is International Eat an Animal for PETA. Laurence Simon is encouraging everyone to go to the Ragin’ Cajun. His theory seem to be that on a per animal basis, you eat more of the animal this way. My only quibble? I don't think crawfish are animals. Aren't they arthropods or something vaguely insectoid? Due to my extreme irritability, anti-social nature, and the fact that the RC is ass and gone from both the house and work, I won’t be there. However, the food is good and you might think about checking it out.

Terri Schindler Schiavo: Facts

Minuteman Project Interview

LaShawn Barber has an interview with one of the guys involved in the Minuteman Project. If you are not familiar with the project, she also has links to background. If you have any interest in border security, as YPS does, it’s a fascinating read. I’m looking forward to the rest of this interview and the following one with the founder.

2005/03/11

Congressional Malfeasance

Via Radley Balko, I ran across this lovely bit from Matt Yglesias. Mr. Balko crunched the numbers and figured that your congresscritter has to read 90 pages of law a minute to be able to get through the laws before voting on them. Mr. Yglesias, being a knee-jerk donk wanker, tries to blame this all on the GOP. This is a problem I have with Mr. Yglesias and many other donks. The barely hidden message is "if we were still in charge of Congress, this wouldn't be happening" and can be extended to any aspect of political chicanery the donk has just noticed. Nice try, but this kind of crap has been going on for years and is thoroughly bipartisan. It is not physically possible for the members of Congress to actually read all the bills they pass, and hasn't been for quite some time. The only people that actually read all the crap Congress passes are the legislative assistants who draft the damnable things.

I have felt for a number of years that if you, as an elected official, have not read and do not fully understand the bill you are voting on, you should vote nay. Obviously, this is not a belief shared by the members of Congress. The problem has reached critical dimensions, as Mr. Balko pointed out late last year. How is it that failing to read something before making it the law of the land is not considered gross incompetence at best and criminal malfeasance at worst? I don’t understand how one can even remotely claim to be doing the job successfully without even reading the bills under consideration.

This is a classic example of an agency problem . We, as busy citizens, delegate the responsibility for running the government to our agents. Unfortunately, our agents (aka Congress) have a completely different set of objectives than we do. We can’t take the time to monitor them exhaustively, what with being gainfully employed and raising children and generally trying to have lives. The incentives for our agents have diverged quite sharply from the interests of the general population. We have created an incredibly dysfunctional system complete with a vast array of perverse incentives to reward our elected officials for screwing us.

I wish I knew what the answer was. The B-school literature on agency problems always throws out crap about making sure the agent’s interests are aligned with the principal’s. That’s all well and good, but the advice lacks a little something when it comes to actual practical methods. All the research focuses on business solutions, not political ones. Short of ending the 1st Amendment after the first 5 words, I’m not sure there is a solution.

It all belongs to Texas anyway...

Apparently, the state of New Mexico thinks they have some claim to Texas land, and they're suing over it. I have a better idea...since it all used to belong to Texas to begin with, maybe we should just clear title to the entire state of NM back to us. Or better yet...why doesn't New Mexico just STFU and focus on repairing their own house, since they were the loons dumb enough to elect a traitor for Governor.

2005/03/10

You're the one for me, Fatwa

Well, damn...they almost got it right...so close...but no...they had to go and screw it up. Way to go Spanish Muslim Clerics for condemning Bin Laden, but you had to go and spoil it by downing the Americans for actually trying to do something about him. You can't have it both ways, guys. Islamofascism will continue unless somebody actively stops these kooks. And, as with every other issue on this planet, since you've all refused to do the dirty work, the Americans are just stepping in to save your sorry asses.

Write on, Mr. Bradstreet

I just came across this blog for the first time, and added him to the blogroll. I think the writer might be in High School, but who cares? Good on him. He writes with wisdom beyond his years.

I think he rocks. I hope you agree.

Numbers goes Corporate

Well maybe it happened a while back...but I just noticed.

OK, so for those of you not from the Houston area, this means nothing. But to those of us who grew up here, and were of "that" certain segment of society, this is pretty scandalous. A little background is probably in order. Numbers Night Club has been a Houston institution for almost 30 years. One of the most established dance and live music venues in Houston, Numbers has hosted countless shows over the years along the line of Siouxsie, REM (in the early 80's...before they sucked), The Ministry, Violent Femmes, The Cure, The Church, They Might Be Giants, Nitzer Ebb, Red Flag, Bella Morte, and well...you get the idea. So...imagine my surprise when I learned that Numbers was hosting the teeny bopper tour.

Now, don't get me wrong, I admit to both watching and enjoying One Tree Hill, weekly even, but come on! What the hell is going on with this? Numbers? I mean hardly the crowd. Of course, upon closer inspection I also learned that Numbers is also hosting quasi-mainstream yap artist XZIBIT and the scarily geriatric Billy Idol (on separate dates of course).

The owner of Numbers used to own a record shop in Houston, where you could get rare club tracks and imports found nowhere else. I used to practically live in that place as a teenager and young adult. About 10 years ago, the Record Rack began, I guess in an attempt to drive sales, to stock more mainstream fare, subsequently sucking the life out of the place. I mean one can only stock so many Pet Shop Boys and Madonna remixes until your traditional clientele gets a little frustrated and stops showing up. Naturally, the shop shut down a few years ago.

I will never fault a business owner for just trying to make a buck; however, I just hope we don't see the Record Rack business strategy drive our beloved Numbers straight into oblivion.

2005/03/09

Regulation is the Devil’s Work

Some of you out there may have realized my position on the 2nd Amendment is a little… extreme. I figure the 2nd Amendment, much like the 1st, means exactly what it says. What part of "shall not be infringed" is difficult to understand? If I can safely and securely store my arms and ammunition, I should be able to own whatever the hell I want. I don’t generally make exceptions to this rule. As far as I’m concerned, if I can keep a tac nuke securely, I should be able to have one.

Of course, I’m bright enough to realize this will never ever happen. Once again, the 1% of the population that can't behave has screwed the rest of us. Too much idiot regulation gets in the way. Chain Gang has a nice post up about the futility of most gun control regulation. The unanswerable question is asked: none of the regulations currently in effect work, so why will adding another stupid regulation improve the situation?

Why don't we broaden the question to all regulation? If the current regulatory scheme is a failure, as too many are, why should we think that tweaking the parts slightly will produce the desired results? The ugly answer that no legislator in Congress wants to speak is that it won't. However, congresscritters seem to think that the world will disintegrate if they don't legislate. Laws must be passed! Something must be done! We must make more laws and felonies!

There's a lot to be said for the Texas approach of only letting the Lege meet once every two years for a limited time. It keeps them from screwing things up too badly.

Eat an Animal for PETA Day is March 15th

Here’s a holiday I can get behind. Mark your calendars: The Ides of March is IEAPD. Fire up the grill…

I'm thinking Cornish Games Hens. They're small enough to eat pretty much the whole animal. I can try deep frying them again. Fun!

Life Is Parody

Oh, but goddamn, Radley Balko made me just laugh my ass off. Go read this. Anything that makes me laugh as hard as that post did deserves notice.

On a similar note, we just saw Badder Santa. The movie is one of the most twistedly hilarious things I have seen in my life. J and I were laughing so hard at some points we were in tears. I think we're going to have to buy this movie.

2005/03/08

Meaty Goodness

The lack of proofreading in the nation today is at an appalling high. People will send out the most ignorant mistakes in writing because... hell, I don't know why they do it. Probably because they're semi-literate at best, but that's just a guess.

Anyhow, Tim Blair found a tasty explanation for why Karl Rove is the terror of the left. Thanks to Mitch for pointing it out.

Kees Moeliker Saw WHAT?


Wow, the nuts in the news just won't stop coming today, will they?

Kees Moeliker, Ig Nobel prize winner for biology--improbable research, will be lecturing in the UK about his odd hobby of standing around watching ducks fuck. No, you did not read that wrong. This gent apparently studies deviant sexual behavior in mallards, including homosexual necrophilia, which he actually claims to have witnessed.

Oh, you want more? OK sicko, well then you read.

Hey...got any hobbies?

8 Hours Will Stop Them From Getting Drunk For Sure

This is a keen bit 'o legislation, yo. Some dumbass (Republican) in the state of MN is out to pass a law that would prevent idiot 21 year olds from killing themselves by alcohol poisoning on their birthdays. So, instead they can just do it the next morning. OK, no that's just the intention. The actual legislation makes 8a the new midnight by somehow postponing the "becoming" of the age of 21 from midnight to 8a, or some such nonsense.

One the funniest aspects of the article; however is this bit:
But microbiology junior Nick Milanowski said he knows firsthand of the negative effects of the power hour.
"A lot of people I know ended up puking when they did their power hour, and then their actual birthday was ruined," he said.


See, now, this bit makes me confused on the matter. Do we need to pass a law to prevent puking, or do we need to pass a law to prevent drunks from "ruining" their own birthdays? Well these 2 proposals seem no more ridiculous than the bills they're trying to actually pass, right?

I'm starting to believe that cold weather drives people to madness.

Obligatory Woman Post...It is International Women's Day

Happy Fucking International Socialist Women's Day. Don't believe me? Well then read what the UN says on the matter.

I want the UN to start preaching to me about "promoting and protecting the 'equal' rights of women" as soon as they stop their beloved Islamic brethren from torturing them, while preventing their own aid workers and "peacekeepers" from raping and selling them.

Better ideas abound, while they're all having cake, or whatever it is they do on "International Womens Day" maybe the rest of us should just use this day to commemorate that day in our bright future when we finally see the demise of all this commie nonsense. I figure that since the so-called "women's movement" itself was pillaged about 30 years ago by idiotarian separatist lesbians, we shouldn't have to wait too damn long.

2005/03/07

Bloody Oxen Chunks

So anyone who reads blogs has seen the CNet interview with Bradley Smith of the FEC by now. A lot of people with blogs are jumping up and down and decrying the assault on the First Amendment. They might apply campaign finance regulations to the Internet and blogs! This is awful!

Duh. Showed up a little bit late to the party, did we? Didn’t anyone notice that the legislative disaster pawned off by John McCain and Russ Feingold was unconstitutional before now? Or did it only matter when it started to affect you and your blog? I’m not feeling a lot of love right now for a lot of people. Either you were against the unholy excrement that is McCain-Feingold from the beginning because it was a blatant assault on the free speech rights of the people, or you’re just a whiny bitch that’s upset because your ox got gored. I’m suspecting there’s a lot of people in the second category hopping up and down right now. Color me cynical, I suppose. After all, it’s fine to regulate all those other people, just not me.

Whatever. I’ve been pissed off about campaign finance reform since SCOTUS forgot how to fucking read and said it was constitutional. Up until that point, I was only aggravated. I honestly thought the Supreme Court was literate and wouldn’t let it stand. I guess that’s what I get for thinking, huh? I won’t make that mistake again. All you people getting mad now need to take a good hard look at what you were doing when it passed and got upheld. At least Mitch McConnell had the stones to take it to court. If you weren’t screaming mad then (I was. Ask J about my tendencies to loudly verbally abuse the TV set.) you really don’t have any call to be mad now.

2005/03/03

Not Your Country, Idiot

The Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Derbez has decided that it’s his job to help his countrymen break US laws. Or at least, prevent anyone from impeding them. He thinks the Mexican government should sue people in US courts to stop them from conducting private border patrols. Aside from legal issues like lack of standing, why in the hell should we put up with this? Somebody needs to tell Mexico’s head diplomat to sit down and have a nice hot cup of STFU. You want to make sure your nationals don’t get hurt crossing the border? Keep them on your side of it, pendejo.

For those of us in the southern border states, illegal immigration is a huge hot-button issue. All of my usual libertarian leanings go right out the window on the issue. Yes, in theory, unrestricted movement across national borders is a positive good if you live in the theoretical libertarian world that isn’t a welfare state. Me, I have to live in the real world. Here in the real world a significant amount of money goes into paying for illegal immigration. Don’t give me all the crap about how illegals fill low-paying jobs Americans won’t take. I will, for the sake of argument, grant that issue. No one ever wants to admit the flip side about what illegals cost, in direct and indirect costs.

But of course, I forget how Mexico works. The government, which I will charitably describe as a corrupt oligarchy, needs the illegals to come work here. That way, the people in charge can continue to be mind-numbingly corrupt and avoid the possibility of reform. Plus, the people that come here to work send back oodles of money to help keep the economy going. If you happen to be at the top of the food chain in Mexico, it’s a sweet deal. Anybody with ambition and drive goes to America instead of hanging around and causing trouble. Then, the exported (potential) troublemakers send back money that you can take from the lower classes. We put up with this up here because whining idiots claim racism and because companies want cheap exploitable labor. In the long run, we all lose. Mexico loses the chance at reform and the possibility of becoming something other than a third-world disaster. We get to watch the continuing decay of the social compact and our public institutions.

Anyhow, Asshat Plenipotentiary Derbez needs to keep in mind that he really doesn’t have any recourse if we tell him to get bent. You can’t try to argue from a position of strength if you ain’t strong. Mexico can’t make any credible threats against the US. Anything they can think of to do would hurt them more than us. Besides, didn't we decide the border issue once the hard way? I don't think anybody wants to go through that again.

2005/03/02

Requiem, Again

Damn. I follow sci-fi news pretty regularly. Yet it had escaped my notice until now that Jack Chalker died a few weeks ago. I find out on Plastic of all places. Plastic? What the hell is that all about? My usual news feeds have failed me.

Anyhow, I have a bunch of his books on the shelves in storage and have read much more. All of it is worth a read. The Well of Souls books I remember as standing out among his body of work.

All other thoughts aside, it is always a little melancholy when someone who has touched your life in a positive way passes on. The bonus of being an author is that you retain the ability to touch people after your death. Go and read his books. We all live on through our works, right?

The NFL's 1,211 most "Naughty"

This is some absurdly hilarious shit. Apparently it all began when Randall Gay's LSU Theater Professor attempted to order an NFL customized jersey with his former student's name on the back. His request for a jersey with the name "Gay" on the back was denied, because (and these are the NFL's words not mine), "This field should not contain a naughty word." The professor, after speaking with a few folks at the NFL shop, did get his jersey, and the NFL site has since changed its response to "The personalization entered cannot be accepted."

One of the more hilarious aspects of this whole deal is that the NFL won't accept "Gay" on a jersey, but it will accept "Gay Nazi". You can't buy a jersey with words like "Balls", "Cock", "Penis", "Lesbian", or "Homo", but you can have the jersey with "Ballsy", "Cocks", "Penises", and "Fag". Oh, and if you want that special "Hitler", "Bin Laden", or "Al Qaeda" jersey...no problem!

I know you want to know...Oh yeah, there's more...actually there are 1,211 more. Here
are the 1,211 "Naughty" words that the NFL won't let you use on a customized jersey.

Victor Davis Hanson Interview

Arthur Chrenkoff has an interview with V.D.H. Go read.

Fun with Spam

As I understand spam, the primary goal is to get the suckers to open the e-mail and click the links. Am I missing something here? Because it seems to me that you would want your subject lines to work towards enticing people into opening the e-mail. I just got a spam with the following subject line:

rattlesnake gonads around 1

I really don’t think that I’m going to open any e-mail that purports to be about reptile balls. It’s just not a topic I have any interest in reading.

Avian Insanity

Well, it’s that time when we clap our hands and shout with glee, because we can return to one of our favorite things here at YPS: mocking dumbasses. Today’s victim? Our old target, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-Aryan Nation).

As near as I can tell, Sen. Byrd is insane rambling in his unique fashion about the possibility of a rule change in the Senate. So what does he decide to call Republicans? Nazis! Yay! This from the only Senator who used to be in the KKK. I guess he’d know what the Nazi philosophy concerning untermenschen and mud people is, right? He’s got more of a practical grasp on using violence and the threat of violence to intimidate political opponents than any other Senator. Or was he in the reformed non-violent wing of the Klan? Some days it’s all too comical.

Just remember, though, that in Sen. Byrd’s worldview using the procedural rules of a legislative body to amend those rules is akin to beating up political opponents, setting government buildings on fire, and the overt use of violence to achieve your political ends. It’s an interesting world he lives in, but I’m glad I never have to go there.

Commemorating Texas Independence Day

The Unanimous Declaration of Independence made by the Delegates of the People of Texas in General Convention at the town of Washington on the 2nd day of March 1836.

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.

When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism, in which every interest is disregarded but that of the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the everready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants.

When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is at length so far lost by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet.

When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements. In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable rights of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish such government, and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their future welfare and happiness.

Nations, as well as individuals, are amenable for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. A statement of a part of our grievances is therefore submitted to an impartial world, in justification of the hazardous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing our political connection with the Mexican people, and assuming an independent attitude among the nations of the earth.

The Mexican government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American population of Texas to colonize its wilderness under the pledged faith of a written constitution, that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth, the United States of America.

In this expectation they have been cruelly disappointed, inasmuch as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers us the cruel alternative, either to abandon our homes, acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood.

It has sacrificed our welfare to the state of Coahuila, by which our interests have been continually depressed through a jealous and partial course of legislation, carried on at a far distant seat of government, by a hostile majority, in an unknown tongue, and this too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in the humblest terms for the establishment of a separate state government, and have, in accordance with the provisions of the national constitution, presented to the general Congress a republican constitution, which was, without just cause, contemptuously rejected.

It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of our citizens, for no other cause but a zealous endeavor to procure the acceptance of our constitution, and the establishment of a state government.

It has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis, the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, and property of the citizen.

It has failed to establish any public system of education, although possessed of almost boundless resources, (the public domain,) and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self government.

It has suffered the military commandants, stationed among us, to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyrrany, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights of the citizens, and rendering the military superior to the civil power.

It has dissolved, by force of arms, the state Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our representatives to fly for their lives from the seat of government, thus depriving us of the fundamental political right of representation.

It has demanded the surrender of a number of our citizens, and ordered military detachments to seize and carry them into the Interior for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities, and in defiance of the laws and the constitution.

It has made piratical attacks upon our commerce, by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and authorizing them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant ports for confiscation.

It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments.

It has invaded our country both by sea and by land, with intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us from our homes; and has now a large mercenary army advancing, to carry on against us a war of extermination.

It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenseless frontiers.

It hath been, during the whole time of our connection with it, the contemptible sport and victim of successive military revolutions, and hath continually exhibited every characteristic of a weak, corrupt, and tyrranical government.

These, and other grievances, were patiently borne by the people of Texas, untill they reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defence of the national constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance. Our appeal has been made in vain. Though months have elapsed, no sympathetic response has yet been heard from the Interior. We are, therefore, forced to the melancholy conclusion, that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, and the substitution therfor of a military government; that they are unfit to be free, and incapable of self government.

The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation.

We, therefore, the delegates with plenary powers of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations.

Richard Ellis, President of the Convention and Delegate from Red River.
Charles B. Stewart
Tho. Barnett
John S. D. Byrom
Francis Ruis
J. Antonio Navarro
Jesse B. Badgett
Wm D. Lacy
William Menifee
Jn. Fisher
Matthew Caldwell
William Motley
Lorenzo de Zavala
Stephen H. Everett
George W. Smyth
Elijah Stapp
Claiborne West
Wm. B. Scates
M. B. Menard
A. B. Hardin
J. W. Burton
Thos. J. Gazley
R. M. Coleman
Sterling C. Robertson
James Collinsworth
Edwin Waller
Asa Brigham
Geo. C. Childress
Bailey Hardeman
Rob. Potter
Thomas Jefferson Rusk
Chas. S. Taylor
John S. Roberts
Robert Hamilton
Collin McKinney
Albert H. Latimer
James Power
Sam Houston
David Thomas
Edwd. Conrad
Martin Palmer
Edwin O. Legrand
Stephen W. Blount
Jms. Gaines
Wm. Clark, Jr.
Sydney O. Pennington
Wm. Carrol Crawford
Jno. Turner
Benj. Briggs Goodrich
G. W. Barnett
James G. Swisher
Jesse Grimes
S. Rhoads Fisher
John W. Moore
John W. Bower
Saml. A. Maverick (from Bejar)
Sam P. Carson
A. Briscoe
J. B. Woods
H. S. Kimble, Secretary

Thank you gentlemen, and your brave revolutionaries, for the Republic of Texas.

2005/03/01

E-mail

After due consideration, we decided to post an email address up on the sidebar. We presume you are bright enough to make the appropriate changes for it to work. If you would like to send us your thoughts on anything we’ve posted, please feel free. We would just like you to remember a few things.

First, if you send it to us, we reserve the right to post it here suitably edited. If you don’t want us to post it, don’t send it. Sending the e-mail constitutes acceptance of this policy.

Second, be polite. Neither of us has a whole lot of time to spare and reading poorly spelled personal insults isn’t how we want to spend it.

Other additions will be posted as we think of them. The link with the address will point to this post, as updated.